Case Study

County of Lackawanna
Transit System (COLTS)
COLTS boosts security at new mass transit
facility with Genetec IP Video Surveillance

Owners of newly-built Lackawanna transit center implement the Omnicast IP video

surveillance system to enhance remote monitoring and tenant operations

Business challenge Summary

The County of Lackawanna Transit System (COLTS) is the
municipal authority for public transport in the city of Scranton,
Pennsylvania, United States, and its surrounding areas. COLTS
operates 29 public bus routes through Lackawanna County and
parts of Luzerne County, and provides specialty transportation for
disabled and senior passengers.
COLTS recently completed construction on the Lackawanna
Transit Center, a $12.5 million intermodal facility in downtown
Scranton. The new facility is now the central transport hub, where
passengers are provided shelter and seating while they wait for
COLTS buses as well as Martz Trailways buses, which provides
longer-distance transport to destinations outside the county.
COLTS decision-makers knew that having a state-of-the-art security
system at its new intermodal facility would help protect the influx of
passengers who visit the center from various locations in the United
States, and ensure passenger safety in and around the terminal.
Relying on the advice of architects and engineers, COLTS chose to
work with Communication Systems Inc. (CSi), a local and highly-
knowledgeable security integrator, who installed Security Center,
the unified security platform from Genetec Inc.
Sharing the benefits of the Omnicast IP video system
The Omnicast™ IP video surveillance system of Security Center
currently manages over 30 Bosch IP cameras in and around the
property. The operational staff at COLTS actively monitor the
cameras from a primary corporate site and bus terminal which is
located outside of downtown Scranton.
According to Robert Fiume, Executive Director at COLTS, “We
have a remote connection to the system which we can access from
our desks to spot check and see what’s going on at the facility. The
system has been very easy to use, and the video quality within
Security Center is excellent.”
On site at the Lackawanna Transit Center, COLTS’ tenant, Martz
Trailways has been provided access to the video surveillance
system. With the help of CSi, they were able to partition the
system and create specific access rights and privileges for Martz
users. Customer service agents at Martz Trailways watch the video
Client name: County of Lackawanna Transit System
Organization size: 115 employees
Products: Security Center, Omnicast™, Federation™, Mobile
Industry: Mass Transit
Location: Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States
Partners: Communication Systems Inc., BCDVideo, Bosch
to make sure buses arrive on schedule, and then announce when
and where buses are loading to passengers.
Federating systems for greater collaboration with
Scranton police
When monitoring the video surveillance system, COLTS is always
looking out for suspect bags lying around, or any other safety
concerns such as the speed at which buses come into the facility or
areas that would require improvements for passenger safety.
In the event that Fiume or other COLTS managerial staff are away
from the office when an incident is reported, they can quickly pull
up video from their phones using the Security Center Mobile feature.
“In case of an emergency or when operational issues are called in,
having access to the video from our phones is very convenient. We
can quickly see what’s happening and dispatch law enforcement or
customer service agents to handle the situation,” said Fiume.
COLTS works closely with the Scranton Police Department, who
also use Genetec solutions. According to Sam DeLeo, Safety and
Security Officer at COLTS, “When a teenager was reported missing,
Scranton PD came to us looking for video. We were able to provide
them with evidence that led to the runaway’s safe return.”
To enhance the collaboration with local police, COLTS is
currently in the process of giving Scranton PD the ability to view
video from their Omnicast system using the Federation™ feature
of Security Center. With a federated system, police officers will be
 County of Lackawanna Transit System (COLTS) · Case Study

able to access video from certain cameras during emergencies

or investigations.
According to Carl Graziano, Police Chief at the Scranton Police
Department, “The ability to see what is happening at this major
transportation hub in our city enables our officers and detectives
the opportunity to be proactive in our community policing. We
are able to save the taxpayers time and money, while providing a
higher level of service.”

Expanding security in next phase of growth

at COLTS
The addition of the Omnicast video surveillance system to the new
transit center is the first step for COLTS. With plans to expand
the corporate site and main bus terminal, COLTS is exploring
how the flexible and highly-scalable platform can affordably take
over existing video surveillance and access control systems. With “The ability to see what is happening
Security Center, all sites and systems will be accessible from a
single intuitive platform.
at this major transportation hub in our
“Having the ability to see what’s going at the new Lackawanna city enables our officers and detectives
Transit Center has been a huge benefit to our team, and we’re the opportunity to be proactive in our
even more excited at the possibility of growing the system to our
corporate office and main terminal. The Genetec platform has community policing. We are able to save
also been instrumental in helping our organization collaborate the taxpayers time and money, while
with other city stakeholders such as law enforcement, which keeps
residents and visitors to Scranton even safer,” concludes Fiume. providing a higher level of service.”

Infrastructure at a Glance
The Security Center platform manages approximately 30 Bosch IP cameras. All video is stored locally on BCDVideo
servers which are optimized for Security Center, offering an affordable and scalable archiving solution for COLTS.

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